Sapphire Atomic HD 3870 cooler details

[cookerjc]

This is Sapphire Atomic HD 3870’s new cooler. It is a single slot design, and integrate with Vapor Chamber technology. The Vapor Chamber is under the black shell, only 3.0mm thick.


Source said the 3mm Vapor Chamber can absorb as much as 150w heat and emit to the fin. With the single slot cooler, HD 3870 now have the ability to run Quad CrossfireX on a bad-PCIe-design 790FX mobo.

The Vapor Chamber is not a new technology, it is based on the same theory with heatpipe. But there is a difference. Heatphipe’s heat transmission is from the hot end to the cool end, limited by its shape. Vapor Chamber is from the hot surface to the cool surface. This design make the vapor chamber’s performance not limited by its shape.



And here is a technical explanation of the vapor chamber from Thermacore:

“A vapor chamber is a vacuum vessel with a wick structure lining the inside walls that is saturated with a working fluid. As heat is applied, the fluid at that location immediately vaporizes and the vapor rushes to fill the vacuum. Wherever the vapor comes into contact with a cooler wall surface it will condense, releasing its latent heat of vaporization. The condensed fluid returns to the heat source via capillary action, ready to be vaporized again and repeat the cycle. The capillary action of the wick enables the vapor chamber to work in any orientation with respect to gravity.”

The reference cooler is based on cooper fins, while the new Atomic version is only aluminum. But source said the new cooler can deliver more heat away. In fullload mode the temperature of HD 3870 with reference cooler is about 74C while HD 3870 with new atomic cooler is only 67C.

So it seems good enough, let’s hope Atomic version HD 3870 can come out soon and we can have a full test about it.

Original Post @ Expreview.com

[Bradan]

surprisingly small. wonder how well it would do on a larger scale??

[[XC] DragonOrta]

It's not like its terribly necessary. The 38xx cards are pretty cool running, and honestly, the stock cooler is $hit. About the size of a beefy chipset cooler.

Using an MCW60, my OCed 3870 loads at 29c. My 8800GTS 320mb loaded at ~47c with a Stealth on the exact same loop.

[Morais]

With the single slot cooler, HD 3870 now have the ability to run Quad CrossfireX on a bad-PCIe-design 790FX mobo.

*Cough*Gigabyte* Cough*

[afireinside]

How did they get 74C with the "reference" cooler? My sapphire cards load 90c stock fan speed and clocks in a stacker 830 with 3x yates on the side

[pH(x)]

Any new innovation is a good innovation, this one doubly-so, coming from Sapphire!

[LordEC911]

Ahhh.... so this is what AMD/ATi was hinting at earlier this past Spring.
Seems like the ATi side is actually quite timely with their current schedules, RV670 hit 6-8 months after they hinted at it and now this hits before the end of the year.
This gives me a bit of hope that AMD hasn't delayed R700.

Let's hope the AMD side of things can start hitting their next 2 releases in a timely fashion.

[Dainas]

Any new innovation is a good innovation, this one doubly-so, coming from Sapphire!

Indeed, specially considering the one place that there never seems to be improvements in size in the entire hardware industry is heatsinks. Up till now GPU card reference performance has been as much a matter of size as design, with this whole the bigger the better attitude on these boards.

I say death to these honking ass Dual slot coolers, sure if you have the room want to get the Creme of the Creme topend, the special OC model or add an aftermarket one thats fine. Its not fine to not have a choice though in the upper midrange.

Just hope the fan is not too loud.

[Lightman]

How did they get 74C with the "reference" cooler? My sapphire cards load 90c stock fan speed and clocks in a stacker 830 with 3x yates on the side

Simply!

They are using Sapphire BETA BIOS for HD3870
Original BIOS is broken and can't regulate FAN speed according to temps.
This BETA I'm using is doing this perfectly!! My cards in CF can't go higher than 62C
BTW I posted this BIOS in HD3870 thread but it looks it's gone now...

Here it is... Sapphire_HD3870_fixfan_unlock.zip

WARNING! MASCARAS flashed his card and had no boot! This BIOS might be only for Sapphire! Do it on your own risk

[afireinside]

Simply!

They are using Sapphire BETA BIOS for HD3870
Original BIOS is broken and can't regulate FAN speed according to temps.
This BETA I'm using is doing this perfectly!! My cards in CF can't go higher than 62C
BTW I posted this BIOS in HD3870 thread but it looks it's gone now...

Here it is... Sapphire_HD3870_fixfan_unlock.zip

WARNING! MASCRAS flashed his card and had no boot! This BIOS might be only for Sapphire! Do it on your own risk

My cards are sapphire... I think. I'll flash this tomorrow. Would make my life much easier. No more disabling driver signing, disabling CF, setting fan speed, then enabling CF every boot. THANKS!

[Ugly n Grey]

Too bad my personal experiences with Sapphire customer service amount to some of the worst in my entire life. Hopefully this cooler will make it onto other brands.

[Shintai]

A 3870 under load uses just a tiny bit more than 8800GT. And that works fine with a singleslot...

[mascaras]

Simply!

They are using Sapphire BETA BIOS for HD3870
Original BIOS is broken and can't regulate FAN speed according to temps.
This BETA I'm using is doing this perfectly!! My cards in CF can't go higher than 62C
BTW I posted this BIOS in HD3870 thread but it looks it's gone now...

Here it is... Sapphire_HD3870_fixfan_unlock.zip

WARNING! MASCRAS flashed his card and had no boot! This BIOS might be only for Sapphire! Do it on your own risk

i try again and its OK , but too noisy

now im using 830/1200 bios and with rivatuner I set both cards to always boot to windows with fan @ 47% ( no noise and temps = 30º Idle and 55º full @ ATitool scan artifacts )

and if i set the Fan @ 49% = playing CSS few hours max temp achived = 40º






Ontopic:

good thing in this new atomic cooler is being single slot no problems to Quad crossfire @ HD3870

regards

[afireinside]

What case do you use? I hit up to 80c looping 3d06 with my fans @ 45% and 76c in games with them @ 50%.

[STaRGaZeR]

What case do you use? I hit up to 80c looping 3d06 with my fans @ 45% and 76c in games with them @ 50%.

Look at his GPU usage, maybe when running Crysis for example the temp raises?

[mascaras]

Im using ANtec 900


Atitool scan for artifacts = 58º - 60º after 2/3 minuts (Fan 49% and 830/1200 clocks)






playing CRYSIS @ GPU Usage = 99%

Fan @ 49%

OC Bios @ 830/1200

Full temp = 54º







rergards

[ColonelCain]

Dang those are some low temps. Before I tore my rig down, my Sapphire 3870 would load at 63degC, and that was with a big house fan blowing in the side, AND the window open bringing the ambient down below 60degF.

Those are some cool runnin' cards...

Back on topic;

I'm interested to see how this Atomic cooler pans out for sapphire. Very interested.

Next though, I want to see vapor phase chambers used in waterblocks.